Dominance & submission

The plane of the powerplay lies here. Fear and humiliation — to submit, to release, to bottom. Or to dominate. Do the terms master or daddy resonate? How about mistress or domina? Or domme?

Unlike sadomasochism, sexual pain in the realm of the senses, D/s plays out in the mind and emotions. On a base level, games of dominance and submission are as old as the playground, or as old evolutionary as mammals — watch a dogpack. Consensual dominance and submission in the bedroom date back to medieval conventions of courtly love, or further. The desire to give yourself to your lover, to be a slave, a pet, a toy; the desire to own and control someone, own their thoughts and emotions — these lie at the base of D/s. As old, or new, as this minute.